


Float Down Like Autumn Leaves (Stay Now)

by hopelesswriter



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Blow Jobs, Bottom Louis, Chef Harry, Costumes, Fluff, Halloween, Handcuffs, Happy Ending, If You Blink You'll miss:, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Kid Fic, M/M, Parent Louis, Really Happy Ending, Riding, Rimming, Sexual Tension, Smut, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 22:32:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4894804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelesswriter/pseuds/hopelesswriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes life plays more tricks than treats on us. Sometimes we plan our future and hope for the best but our world is turned upside down. Sometimes the crispy air of October brings the smell of pumpkin spice candles instead of dead things- and sometimes, when it’s meant to be, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about it.</p><p>Or</p><p>The AU in which Louis has a 6 year old daughter with a costume emergency that puts her school's annual Halloween party at risk, Halloween decorated cupcakes are hard to find and tall men look absolutely ridiculously cute in giant vegetables costumes. Co-starring Harry, who makes really good food for the kids. Featuring Niall, who works in a bakery but has a part time job as a babysitter. And as much as he doesn't believe in love at first (or second) sight, Louis is really infatuated and really wouldn't mind seeing Harry again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Do you ever wonder if the Stars shine out for you?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amaura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaura/gifts).



> Based on the prompt:  
> Louis has a 6 year old daughter that he brings to her school's annual Halloween party. He meets Harry, who makes really good food for the kids and as much as he doesn't believe in love at first right, Louis is really infatuated and really wouldn't mind seeing Harry again.
> 
> I was asked to be a pinch hitter on this one so I hope more than ever that the prompter enjoys this fic as much as I did!  
> I’d like to send a huge massive enormous gigantic thank you to Ghostie for being so supportive through all the process of writing this and for being the fastest beta (I swear, she is bionic or something). So thank you, darling, for being amazingly awesome as always. *heart emoji* *ghost emoji* *heart emoji* 
> 
> Tittle from Autumn Leaves by Ed Sheeran.
> 
> That’s it! I hope you all enjoy, it’s been a rushed crazy ride (no kidding, 27 pages were written in 13 hours straight). So yeah, all kinds of response to this is much appreciated. I wish you all a nice week. Happy reading! Xx

 

"Pssst. _Psssst_. Daddy, you awake?"

That whisper-shout coming from his bedside early in the mornings was something that Louis had grown used to since Lisa had found out what ‘you’ and ‘awake’ put in that particular order meant.

He stretched his stiff joints rolling on his side to face his daughter, the missing tooth in her smile causing laughter bubbles to emerge in his inside.

"I am now." His lips tilted up softly as he reached for her blonde locks, soothing her bed hair down.

Her loud squeal of " _Morning, Daddy_!" that followed was also something he knew to expect.

Despite being mentally and physically exhausted, he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at her, which said a lot since breaking his glasses, phone and nearly causing the TV to fall over herself had happened within a week.

"Morning, love." She never failed to bring a smile to his lips.

He didn't need to check behind him to know the other side of the bed was empty, it was expected at that point, especially after the sort of argument that had happened the night before. Louis sighed once and jumped out of bed attacking his daughter with tickles, chasing her down the hall into the bathroom so they could brush their teeth.

\---

Lisa was babbling away about a dream she has had the previous night, about this carrot prince or something that made her dad cackle.

"Don’t talk with your mouth full, sweetie, you'll choke." He reminded her softly when she got too excited over her story.

" _Sowy_." She did it again before giggling and going back to chewing.   
Louis was sipping on his tea when she spoke again, the frowny tone in her voice causing him to look up from his magazine.

"Dad?"

"Yes, love, what’s wrong?"

"It's Halloween party day." Her frown deepened.

"Oh! How nice!" He tried to smile, face falling when she pouted. "Is it not nice? You love Halloween!"

He knew her school usually threw a party a few days before Halloween, that way kids could get a few extra candies and - really was just an excuse to have fun and interact with other kids.

"I don’t have a costume!"

His mug fell onto the plate, creating a loud noise, a bit of tea spilling out but not breaking it, thankfully.

"What do you mean?" Jordan was supposed to take her on costume purchase last week. "Your father took you to the mall last week, he didn’t get you one?" He tried to sound worried rather than angry but he wasn’t sure it was working. He hoped she wouldn’t notice.

She shook her head, blond half curls bouncing side to side. "We were there for like two minutes, he got me ice cream and dropped me at Miss Marbles-" her hand flew to her mouth. "You shouldn’t know that! Sorry daddy, don’t be mad!"

And Louis wasn’t mad, he was furious, he was going to absolutely murder his husband. Jordan had not only abandoned his daughter with a teenager neighbor without even doing his only job of getting her a costume but also made her lie to Louis.

He took a deep breath and pressed into his temple. "I'm not mad, I promise, but you have to swear to me you will not lie to me or hide anything from me again, okay?"

Her eyes were huge as she nodded. "Oh but what about surprise parties?! You can’t spoil it!"

A smile broke his frown. "Sure, but only that."

"Okay! Then I promise! Sorry I lied, daddy."

He wanted to ask why she did, but Lisa was six, and easily accepted what her parents or adult family members told her, not wanting to upset anyone.

"It's okay, c'mere, give us a proper cuddle." She jumped from her chair and wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing tight.

"Ah! I promised to bring cupcakes today!"

He pulled back, eyes wide. "Why would you do such a thing?" Louis knew her school provided food for every party.

"It's Tanya's birthday! I asked what she wanted and she said cupcakes for the whole class!" The toothless grin on her lips let him know she had no idea how much harder she had made his day at that moment.

Rubbing his temples once more, already feeling the headache creeping up on him, he sighed and then snapped his fingers. "Okay! You go get ready, I’ll leave you at Miss Dora's house and run down to the bakery and then come to pick you up.

Lisa nodded before sprinting down the hallway to her room. He had finished throwing some clothes on and grabbing his phone and wallet when she came to the living room. He smiled at her mini orange trench coat and brown leggings, a dark red beanie on her hair.

"Well look at you! All autumn appropriate."

Lisa rolled her blue eyes - perfect copies of Louis' own. "Well, daddy, I like matching the seasons, okay?" She cocked an eyebrow and he laughed, raising both hands in surrender.

"Fine! _Geez_ , sorry." His daughter giggled.

\---

"What about vampires?!"

Blonde curly pigtails bounced as Lisa shook her head. "No, daddy! Miss Dora, please! I need a creative mind to help me!"

The middle-aged woman hid her laugh behind her manicured nails. "We are trying, sweetie." Dora smiled.

She was one of the only actual friends Louis had as a neighbor, he had always been treated like a son and Dora loved his daughter genuinely as her own family, the feeling was mutual.

"Ah! What about a zombie?!"

"Ugh daddy! They are yuck, no."

"What about a mummy?"

Lisa looked up at Dora, eyes widening in interest. They had been trying to match her old princess dress with something more 'halloweeny' as the six-year-old had put it herself.

Her father thanked god for his friend and hoped his daughter would be okay with it.

"That's great! I could get lots of bandages and it’s easy and quick! What do you think, honey?"

"Uuh, lovely! Yes yes, please!"

Louis clapped his hands. "Yes! Okay I’ll go get the cupcakes and the bandages, go with Dora to our apartment to put on your costume and wait for me."

He was by the door when he yelled. "And behave!"

Only to have his little one yell back. "Don't I always!?"

He chuckled all the way to the bakery.

\---

"Hi! Good morning, you wouldn’t happen to have like two dozens of Halloween cupcakes to go, would you? It’s kind of an emergency." Louis was tripping over his words, he knew that but it was kind of an emergency indeed, a parental one, his title of best dad at risk.

The blond lad behind the counter put both hands on his hips and examined the counter. A few almond and chocolate ones here and there, a few coconut ones and several different types, no Halloween decorations.

"I was sure they were being made, hang on a sec?" The heavy accent made the guy look even nicer. "Harreh!”

“Yeah?” Came a shout from the kitchen door before it opened, revealing a tall lad with green eyes and- was that a _bun_?

“Oh there they are!” Niall - as read on his name tag - gestured for the trays of Halloween cupcakes that tall (cute), nice (extremely cute) guy was carrying.

He smiled and placed both trays on the counter. He offered ¼ of one for Louis to try and well, he had to taste it before getting nearly thirty of them, didn’t he?

Explosions of flavor happened in his mouth and he had to try really hard not to moan at the taste. He said ‘yes, please I’ll take them!’ and the blond lad moved to put them in take-away-boxes, while the tall - Harry, the tag said - cute guy put the remaining cupcakes into the vitrine.

"Uhm- wait, sorry, I want that sample you gave me?"

Harry looked puzzled. "Yeah, they are from this batch." He smiled awkwardly.

"Ah okay, it’s just tagged as 'vegan' over there, you'll probably change this, sorry."

The frown on his pretty skin deepened before a real smile blossomed. "The sample you tasted is a vegan recipe."

Louis had been typing frantically, trying to reach Jordan through text to virtually murder him. Harry's words made him freeze and look up at him.

"Come again?"

"The sample you had?" His voice was even slower and confused. "All the Halloween cupcakes in this batch are vegan."

"What do you mean by vegan?"

Louis wasn’t stupid he just wanted to know… what the hell.

"Means no ingredients from animal origin were used?" He tilted his head cutely.

"Like- no... milk?"

"Yeah!" Harry grinned as if the problem was solved.

"Can you even make white chocolate cupcakes like that?"

Harry had the indecency of smirking. "I never told you what these were made of."

"It's white chocolate? With butter cream?" _What the hell_.

"No, actually. This batch has pumpkin, beet and corn flavored cupcakes, all organic ingredients, no egg, and no milk." The grin on his face didn’t erase Louis' shock.

"This sounds terrible!"

Harry laughed. "You just had one!"

"You're kidding me, right? There's- no, okay, _no_! It tasted like chocolate! Someone switched them and didn’t tell you." He knew his arms being crossed made him look like a petulant teenager but he couldn’t care.

"Well... I made and decorated them myself." One shrugged shoulder out of mirroring crossed arms was all he gestured back.

The blond guy chose that moment to walk back with the cupcakes ready to go. He smiled, placing them on the counter, handing Louis a tab to pay at the register.

Harry placed both hands on each side of the box.

"So, are you taking them? Or should I put them back to sale?"

And Louis had to think, he truly had to think. They sounded disgusting, the kids would probably throw them at his face as soon as they found out there was not even real chocolate in them, but - they tasted delicious, in fact they had made his mouth water for another bite.

He narrowed his eyes, placing his hands on the box, fingers sneaking under Harry's long ones. That should have felt awkward but it didn’t. Huh.

"You promise the kids won’t notice, Harry?"

The guy smirked and mock-narrowed his eyes back, leaning closer. "I promise, mister-vegan-unbeliever."

Louis rolled his eyes. "If a single one of these is thrown at me, I know where to find you."

Cackling, the baker answered. "And maybe when they love it, you can come back and apologize?" He winked.

Feigning shock, Louis forced a gasp out and pulled the box out of Harry's hold, the chilly October air causing his hands to miss the warmth of the other's palms already. Oh well.

"I will do no such thing; guess you'll have to live with this doubt for the rest of your days." He smiled mockingly over his shoulder, walking to the register.

If he caught the guy checking him out, well... a harmless flirtation would do no... harm.

He was handing his credit card to the bored teenager cashier when Harry appeared by his side, arms and ankles crossed, body leaning on the register balcony causing the teen to soundlessly scoff at him.

"You never told me your name, Mister-where's-the-chocolate."

Louis thanked the cashier before looking up at Harry. The white apron shouldn’t look cute on him, neither should the moss green long sleeve shirt, which was rolled up to his elbows and made his eyes pop insanely.

"That's for me to know and for you to wonder." He grinned. "Anyways, vegan boy, thank you for the cupcakes, I hope the kids are easily tricked."

"Like yourself?" Louis wanted to slap that smirk out of his dimply face.

"Goodbye, Harry."

Walking to the door, Louis could feel those ivy green eyes on him and then his laughing voice echoing through the air.

"Bye, you! See you when you come bearing flowers and apologies!"

\---

"Hey Haz?"

"Yeah Niall?" His eyes were still on the pretty man that now was crossing the street outside the shop.

"We're supposed to be at Beckford school in twenty, man."

Harry glanced at the clock and cursed, rushing to the back to gather his stuff.

\---

"Oh my! Look at you!"

"Do I look spooky? _Oooh_ " Lisa wiggled his fingers in the air making a ghostie sound.

He laughed. "Very."

Dora had applied some pink, white and black make-up on Lisa's face, god bless her, really.

"Did you get the cupcakes, daddy?"

"Course I did!"

"Did they give you a funny look when you asked for this amount of bandages?" Dora asked, already wrapping the first one around the little girl's arm. "Comfortable?" Lisa nodded after waving her arm up and down, giggling a bit.

"Yeah, I honestly don’t know if they were amused or mad for selling their whole stock of bandages."

The woman laughed as Louis checked his phone. A single message as an answer for his 17th.

**_Will call you later_ **

\---

Louis had forgotten how energy filled children at the Beckford Primary School could be. He had lost count of how many times the twins dressed as Superman and Batman had ran around his table. Or the amount of times the little bee girl had gone to the food table.

"Daddy!" _Why do kids squeal when they are excited?_ "Tanya loved the cupcakes! Everyone loved them! The berries are the best ones! Thank you, daddy!"

He oofed when Lisa jumped and hugged him where he was sitting on the chair. He laughed and realized no one needed to know the berries cupcakes were actually beet and carrot ones.

"You're welcome, love."

She ran off to her monster and princess friends. Loud squeals served as companion to the parents chattering and the soft pop music playing.

His phone vibrated and he excused himself, rushing to a more secluded area before picking up.

"I am going to _murder_ you."

 _“Hello to you too”_. Jordan sounded bored.

"Seriously? You'll act up now? Jordan!" He tried to lower his voice when a passing teacher raised her brow at him. "I asked you to get her a costume, that’s all you had to do."

_“Oh shit. I forgot. When’s the party?”_

Louis sighed. "I'm at it right now."

_“Oh.”_

"Yes, _oh_. Honestly, why didn’t you just do what I asked? It wasn’t that hard."

_“Come on Lou, it’s a school party, she is there and probably having fun anyways.”_

"It might be just a school party for you and me, but she is six, Jordan. These things are important-"

_“How important can it be? Give me a break.”_

"I... Okay, I don’t have time for this, but don’t you dare think we're not talking about how you not only lied to me but made my daughter lie as well."

Jordan snorted. “ _Your daughter, right.”_   It was muttered but Louis caught it.

"What's that’s supposed to mean?"

He sounded annoyed when he answered. “ _Nothing, go to the party, we’ll talk later.”_ And the line went dead.

"You son of a-"

"You really shouldn’t curse when there are kids around."

He knew that voice. He turned around to politely tell the guy off for being a stalker or maybe ask him what the hell he was doing at the party, but his chin nearly reached the floor as his mouth went slack when his eyes met Harry.

"I knew you had to be insane." Louis whispered, eyes moving up and down Harry's body.

He laughed and spread his arms, turning around slowly showing himself. His limbs were covered by a bright orange long-sleeved shirt and tight pants of the same color, his boots creepily matching the tone, his face and hands sprayed in the same bright orange and his hair, his goddamn hair was green, sprayed up in a high bun with long pointed strands up.

"You're a giant carrot!"

Harry laughed. "Yeah! Do you like it?"

"Does it have a matching tofu outfit?" Louis honestly couldn’t believe his eyes or Harry’s eyes; they had _green mascara_ on them.

"Nah, an eggplant one, I lent it to Niall."

"You are unreal." And suddenly all the anger and frustration was gone from Louis' voice. A small smile, confused but still soft was playing on his lips. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I brought the food!"

"You did?" Surprise was genuine in his tone, he had tasted the spaghetti and they had been splendid.

"Um-hm!" His dimples under that orange paint looked ridiculously adorable.

"Wait... hold on a sec – Harry, did you make a vegan menu for a kids’ party?"

Harry's laughs echoed in the hallway, he clapped his hands once and leaned forward slightly. "Well Louis, as matter of fact I did." He smirked again. He smelled good, sweet but not over powering. Louis took a step back.

"How did you find out my name?"

"Oh I have my ways..." his eyes shone with mischief for two seconds before he smiled. ”Nah, Niall told me, you had to give him your name to write on your tab.

"Sneaky."  The man squinted his eyes as they simultaneously started walking back to the party.

"But for real, you made all the food?" The drop of admiration in Louis’ voice made Harry flush a bit, not that you could tell thanks to that bloody orange paint.

"Yeah... I bake as a part time job, I’m actually majoring in gastronomy here in Camden, and my final work is on healthy vegan food that can pass as junk food. As I’m sure you've noticed."

"Oh my god, please tell me you're not anti-meat."

He laughed. "No, I’m just pro health, especially with kids’ meals."

Eyes narrowing, Louis motioned to the empty chair next to the one he was sitting on. "You can’t tell me kids like your vegan thing."

"Well, not to brag or anything, but I’ve only heard complements on the cupcakes..."

 “Not to brag my ass! You can’t wipe that smirk off of your face.”

It only deepened. “Well, you do have an amazing ass.”

Louis was slightly taken back, still amused though. “How can you flirt with me like that? How do you even know I swing that way?” His question brought a smirk to his own face when Harry frowned a bit.

“You don’t have to be gay for me to compliment you _or_ your ass.”

“I’d have to be gay for you to flirt with me.”

Harry rolled his eyes, lips tilted up again. “You have to be single to flirt with someone, not necessarily gay, everyone open-minded is a little bit gay.”

Louis had to laugh. “Is that so?”

“Um-hm… so, are you?”

Stopping his weird pink-looking drink midair Louis turned to him. “Am I what?”

“Single?”

He had to laugh again. Harry was really good at making that happen. “Is this you fishing for information?”

“Nah… are you, though? I mean it’s none of my business, but I know you have a daughter, it was the first thing you said to Niall, I could hear you all the way back from the kitchen, you sounded all flustered and desperate for cupcakes.”

“I did not sound anything, shut up.” The non-alcoholic drink tasted incredibly good.

“I bet you can sound lots of things under certain circumstances.” Harry said lowly, not too close but making sure no one else heard.

Okay, that was enough.

“I am married, Harry.”

“Oh! Okay, flirting withdrawn.” He raised both orange painted hands in surrender and leaned back a bit, smile still in place.

“So you were flirting…”

Harry shrugged lazily at Louis’ raised brows. “No harm in a little flirting, you could have told me off, sure, but as long as I’m respectful, I don’t see a problem in trying, you’re pretty enough too.”

“Is that you withdrawing your flirtation?” Harry also got Louis smirking a lot.

“Well, like I said, you’d have to be single to flirt back so I’ll be stopping now.”

“I don’t know… I’d actually have to flirt back to _flirt back_ , wouldn’t I?” Harry tilted his head, cutely, again. “Well, you can’t just assume that if I’m gay and single I’d flirt back, what makes you think you’re my type?” Harry saw he was messing with him so he didn’t even feel offended. He just smiled crookedly.

“Look at me! I dress up as a carrot to make kids happy! I’m an in-training-chef and I’m healthy, easily pleased by kale as lunch.”

Louis had to roll his eyes again, he knew Harry was just playing along. “I’m sure you even taste healthy.” And okay, he didn’t mean to say that. Too late though, the smirk was back, full force.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”  
  
“No, I wouldn’t… married, remember?”

“Married, not dead.” Harry winked and okay no, he couldn’t be possibly implying- “Oh my god, your face!” His sudden cackles made a few kids running by stop and stare at him, he waved at them and they waved back before running off again. “I’m joking, obviously, I respect this, Louis, I respect you being married, I’m just playing with you.” His voice was serious now, his eyes heavy with meaning.

Louis nodded because good, that was great. But then he was back on the game. “Not dead, but you’re still not my type.”

\---

The party went on in a blur, Harry had to excuse himself on a few occasions whenever Niall came over to tell him some parents wanted to know about the food. And if Louis watched him interacting with the parents and sometimes with the kids themselves, no one noticed.

They talked a lot apart from that. Louis also realized Harry hadn’t asked about his husband apart from when he asked if Louis was single and honestly, he also realized he couldn’t care less about going a few hours without talking about Jordan.

Lisa at some point came to find her dad and her eyes went huge, loud wails coming from her frosting-covered lips.

“Carrot prince! Daddy, he was in my dream!”

Harry laughed and waved a hello at her, his eyes fixed on Louis questioningly. “I take this one is yours?”

“Yeah.” Louis laughed back. Lisa sat on his lap and started babbling about how she had dreamed about a carrot prince with green eyes. Harry loved the coincidence and when she found out he had made the cupcakes, Louis had to snake his ways into their chipper conversation before Lisa invited Harry to cook at their place - she had done it once or six times with other chefs, but who is counting?

Louis would also never admit how enchanted he was to see his daughter interact with the guy. Harry was so thoughtful and patient and obviously as much into the conversation as she was. Lisa wanted to know about all the different dished he had made and how he made them and all the ingredients and all there was to know, and Harry, he would simply smile at her and answer every single question thrown his way.

Her sudden squeal of “Papa!” and she jumping off Louis’ lap, running towards the door caused both men to look up concernedly to where she had gone.

Louis looked up just in time to see her jumping into Jordan’s arms, a cold barely-there smile on his lips, not that she would have noticed, thankfully.

Harry glanced back to Louis and saw the way his jaw was suddenly tight. He felt like he should leave, but the man was already sitting in front of them.

“So sorry I’m late. Hi, I don’t think we’ve met before?” He at least tried to sound polite when he directed his words more to Harry before even saying hello to his husband.

“He is the carrot prince!” Lisa’s spontaneous words made Harry and Louis soften their expressions and smile.

“I’m Harry, I made the food.”

“Ah, nice to meet you, I’m Jordan.” He smiled. “Hi Lou.”

“Hi, didn’t think you’d show up.”

“Yeah, was caught up in a meeting.”

 _With your secretary’s legs around your hips, I’m sure._ Louis wanted to say but he simply smiled and reached for his “brain juice!... Nah I’m kidding it’s just guava, yummy, isn’t it?” Harry had said with a grin.

And so it’s clear. Jordan had been cheating on Louis, if you asked him how he found out he wouldn’t even know, but it had been happening for quite a long time and honestly, he didn’t really care, what he didn’t admit was Jordan letting his lies affect their daughter, missing her school parties, making her lie to Louis, that would be hard to forgive.

So why not ask for a divorce? Louis was scared, and that was okay, he needed to do what was best for his daughter, his job didn’t pay that well, and he didn’t need much, he didn’t need Jordan’s attention, as long as Lisa was happy and oblivious about their problems behind closed doors, Louis was fine, he just needed to hold on for a while.

A warm hand pressed to his forearm, an orange warm hand, bringing him back from his thoughts. He smiled, and Jordan didn’t fail to notice, well that was a first.

“Was very nice meeting you, I have to go now, start tidying up, can’t leave it all to the guys.” He smiled and waved at Lisa who yelled “ _bye-bye, carrot prince_!”

“Bye Harry.”

\---

“So you met that guy today?”

Louis sighed and pulled his side of the comforter away to fit himself in bed.

“Yeah, he got me the cupcakes I brought to the party, coincidently he also made the food.”

“I see.” Jordan was clearly not interested. He moved closer, bringing his lips to Louis’. He still tasted like cherry lip-gloss. “Night, Lou.”

Louis felt his throat tightening and rolled to the other side, both men now back to back - such a healthy relationship. “Night.”

\---

It wasn’t until a few weeks after the party that Louis saw Harry again. He blamed Lisa, really, she had been a little angel, much less clumsy at home, tidying up her toys, doing her homework and not making much of a fuss at bedtime. He really felt like he could reward her, just a bit of spoiling would do no harm.

Of course the thing she asked for: “ _Cupcakes daddy, please!”_

So there they were, still warming up from the chilly autumn weather outside, the smell of baked goods replacing the one from dead leaves as they stood in the line. Niall was behind the counter, attending to the group of teenagers in front of Louis.

The door opened and the bell jingled, a normal sound at such a popular bakery but for some reason, Louis looked in the direction of the door. The universe knew why.

A pair of green orbs found his and Harry’s smile wasn’t the reason as to why Louis’ breath hitched, his hair was. His curls reached a bit past his shoulders, his trench coat a dark green tone, dark skinny pants and beige boots, what planet had he come from?

His hand waved Louis to an empty table down the shop and well who was Louis to deny?

“Love?” Lisa looked up smiling, he mirrored it. “Remember Harry?”

“Hm... Oh, the carrot prince?”

He chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, look he is right there.”

Her eyes went wide when she looked for an orange painted dude but when Harry grinned and waved at her, her smile only grew.

“Hi Harry!” She ran and jumped into his arms, the guy clearly not expecting it but thankfully not looking bothered by it and hugging her back just as tight.

He said something at her that made her blush when she pulled away, rushing to her father’s side, burying her face into his hip.

“Hey Louis.” Was his voice always this deep?

“Harry, hi. You’re not working today?”

They sat down at the table and Harry signaled over to Niall who smirked and nodded back at him a ‘be right there’. Okay, so Harry may or may not have developed a crush on Louis, Niall may or may not know, whatever, is not like anything would ever happen, he just needed to wait for it to go away.

He fixed a strand of hair behind his left ear and smiled. “Yeah, going for a tutoring lesson with the freshmen in Uni in a bit, today and weekends are my days off. Just passed by to grab a hot soy with oatmeal.”

Louis felt a grin forming on his lips and rolled his eyes. “Of course you did. And you go teach people dressed like a Burberry model?”

The guy smiled lazily. “I’m much more of a Saint Laurent’s person but thanks. And well it doesn’t hurt to be well dressed, does it?”

Louis bit his lip. “I guess it doesn’t.”

“But what about you?” Harry grinned, fixing his attention on Lisa.

“Daddy said I could get sweets because I behaved!”

“Is that so? _Yas!_ High five for behaving!” He raised his giant hand across the table causing the little girl to giggle as she reached up to slap his hand. “High five for being a good _daddy_!” His palm turned to Louis and the grin on his face did nothing to cover the smirk underneath.

Louis’ brow raised and he mouthed ‘ _don’t you dare_ ’ to the lad, his smaller hand raising up anyways, an attempt to slap Harry’s hand, having his fingers engulfed and locked instead.

“Quick, the guard is down!”

Before Louis could pull his hand away and ask what the hell he was talking about, Lisa’s little fingers were frantically touching his armpit, giggles filling the air.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” He yelped, laughing as he tried to pull his arm away, careful not to elbow his daughter in the process. Harry was strong enough to hold him by the hand. Oh.

Eventually Lisa was cackling so badly she had to stop tickling her father. He was still catching his breath when Niall came to get their orders. Hot soy with oatmeal for Harry, hot apple chai for Louis with a cinnamon roll and small pumpkin vegan latte with a beet and berries version of red velvet cupcake - blame Harry for her order. Louis could only shake his head, slightly amused when Harry said he had the perfect yummy meal for Lisa and the little girl’s eyes sparkled and she yelled an ‘ _Okay!_ ’ head nodding, blond locks moving with it.

The restroom was in plain sight so Louis allowed her to use the ladies’ room alone; she was a big girl after all. They had finished eating, everything was delicious. Harry had made the sweets. He revealed that after mentioning he lived in the next building on the third floor with his ginger cat named Madame Abby - so he was always down here in the bakery, making some goodies or teaching people to make them. It was clear to Louis, only by how passionate he spoke about cooking and baking, that Harry was a natural. And Louis was endeared.

“You know this is wrong, right?”

“What?”

Louis scoffed. “You’re tricking the kids into eating healthily! Hell, you tricked me into eating healthily.” He shook his head, a smile on his lips.

The man chuckled - man, yes; he had also learned Harry was twenty seven, two years younger. “And what’s wrong with eating healthy food?”

“Well you can’t just trap people into it! Are you part of a tofu conspiracy or something like that? Cause if so I am leaving.”

This time, Harry cackled loudly, head thrown back, curls moving, neck pale and exposed. Louis was a neck person, he loved kissing necks, he couldn’t remember the last time he had kissed a neck, a real kiss, marking down on the skin with his love bites – okay, he could, it had been about eight months before that, the last time he and Jordan had sex, they were a bit tipsy, couldn’t bring themselves to fight anymore, obviously fighting after sobering up when they saw the barely-there marks the other had left.

“You are ridiculous… and what’s up with the tofu thing?” Chuckles could be detected in his words. “Like I said, I’m _pro health_ , if people had better food, they would have better mood for exercising, they would be happier, there are actually studies about how eating healthily increases your years of life and-“ his voice lowered when he leaned closer since Lisa was coming back from the restroom. “Your libido _and_ stamina.” He finished, grinning and moving back against his seat.

Louis gulped and tried not to get lost in his words.

“What are you plotting?” Lisa grinned up at them.

Harry beat him to it. “I was just telling _daddy_ here-“ _Fucking bastard._ Louis did not have a daddy kink, he did not, but Harry, Harry just, he just... “That if people, especially kids eat healthy food on regular basis, then it’s okay for them to eat a burger or pizza once in a while, that’s great even!”

“Really?!” Her eyes that were blue like Louis’ sparkled. Oh boy she was just as gone for Harry as her father. Wait, what?

“Yeah! Like, did you know if you eat sweets and fried things every day, at some point they won’t taste as good? And you can get lots of health diseases that are no good for you. If you eat well, you have energy to play all the time! Also your brain will be happy and you’ll keep being smart!” He grinned at her.

“Really!?” She looked up at Louis who was still brain-fried, trying to process the daddy thing. Eight months. No sex. That was the only explanation as to why his heart was racing.

“Y-Yeah, I guess. It’s not like I let you have soda or candy everyday though, is it?”

Lisa shook her head. “I am healthy! And Smart!

Louis chuckled then, his trance gone. Partially. “You are, very smart.” He kissed the top of her head before squinting his eyes at Harry. “And healthy.”

\---

Going to the bakery had become a twice a week thing, by mid-November Lisa was absolutely addicted to Harry’s vegan dishes. Whenever he was working, he would surprise her with some colorful and delicious snack that made Louis’ mouth water. When he had the day off, he would sit with them for a chat, Niall always bringing their food with a stupid ass smirk on his face. Lisa wouldn’t go a day without mentioning Harry, neither would Louis’ brain.

He realized he had hit rock bottom, actually finding himself with a crush on the man on a late Friday night, alone in his shower, feeling half desperate, half pathetic for wanking when he had a husband that could (should) be doing it for him instead of being out, definitely after hours with some person from his office.

And Louis was fine, really, whatever, his hand had been his best friend since he was fourteen, is not like it would abandon him in such a hard time - pun fully intended.

He stepped under the water stream feeling his tense muscles being immediately relaxed, the temperature was perfect, and the water pressure was exactly what he needed.

It had been a long week; Jordan had been home nearly at midnight every night, being snappy at Louis and Lisa, which led the couple to argue for hours on because he stupidly yelling at a kid was not acceptable.

Louis sighed and let the water hit his face. An easy smile emerging when his mind drifted to hours earlier when Lisa convinced him to taste this Raw Blackberries Breakfast Cake that Harry had served. It was marvelously good. Everything Harry did was good. Harry was kind to Lisa. Harry was funny and a big goof. Harry was passionate and beautiful. Harry, Harry-

 _“Harry…”_  Was breathed out of Louis’ lips before he could even process it and stop himself.

His smiles and dirty smirks, his daddy jokes that made Louis want to punch him with his lips right on Harry’s lips, coming to his mind without his blessing.

The man had taken him and Lisa into the kitchen; it was a bit past 6 pm so no more baking was being done by that time. He had offered to make dinner and dessert for Lisa before Louis had to take her to her friend’s house for the weekend. The girl would be home only after seven from a ballet practice or something so her mom had told Louis he could let Lisa have dinner or she would do it later for the girls, she didn’t mind. But Lisa wouldn’t want to pass the opportunity to eat Harry’s Zucchini Pasta with Creamy Avocado-Cucumber Sauce.

The way he handled the kitchen, floating around, muscles flexing at the smallest gestures, his luscious hair tied up in a high bun, his soft cackles at Lisa’s jokes. She sat on the counter close enough to hand him the ingredients but far enough away to not get burned by the boiling food - he was so thoughtful, so amazing, so goddamn pretty.

Louis groaned lowly, feeling himself harden instantly at the thought of the other man, before biting his lip. He took a deep breath trying to calm down and began to rub his shoulder and chest with soap again.

His body wasn’t having any of it. Louis’ mind immediately pictured Harry there with him, chest pressing against him, mouth assaulting the back of his shoulder, his hands coating Louis’ chest with the bloody pumpkin soap Harry had given him the week before as an autumn-friendly gift - his cock big and impossibly hard against the back of the other man’s upper bum.

Louis squeezed his eyes shut, moaning weakly, then sighed defeated and let his hand travel down to his rock hard cock and wrapped it around his cock, giving a tentative squeeze at the base causing him to groan again. Louder. Instantaneous relief, but not enough, never enough.

He moved his hand slowly, teasingly almost, his mind still seeing it as Harry doing it. And Louis just knew, if Harry ever got the chance to touch him, he would do it torturously slowly, loving how he would be able to make the other man squirm and beg for more.

The thought of Harry provoking him with that ridiculous wicked smirk on his face made Louis moan again.

He tightened the hold of his hand on his cock, moving it a bit faster, already desperate to come, his mouth releasing low moans and a few gasps, hands slippery with water and soap, teeth occasionally biting his already bruised lips when he made louder noises.

He started to twitch his hand when it came close to the head, stopping a few times to rub his thumb over it, adding more stimulation to it.

He was close, he could feel it. His balance started wearing off so he stepped back and leaned against the cool wall.

Unfortunately, Mind-Harry moved with him and now was on his knees, his hands moving dangerously slow up and down the shorter man’s thighs. Mind-Harry looked up at him with innocent eyes before a new smirk took over his face. He batted Louis’ hands away and licked the tip of his cock.

Louis’ head banged against the wall at that mental image, his hands moving so frantically it almost hurt. Mind-Harry closed his lips around the head, suckling pre-come out of him and that was it for him.

“Harry…” He breathed brokenly, eyes widening with the aftershock, not quite knowing how to process it, the water washing his immorality down the drain and he panted, the tight feeling in his guts wasn’t pleasure, but guilt.

\---

His head pounded, he had to deal not only with his own screwed up brain that apparently found it okay to make Louis picture Harry and wank to the images of him, but he also had to deal with Jordan at 11 pm on a Saturday night complaining about the business dinner they had just came back from.

Half an hour later they were yelling at each other, Louis couldn’t even remember how it started, probably when he couldn’t find his brain-to-mouth filter and told Jordan that maybe if he treated Louis as his actual husband instead of his ‘trophy wife’ people would pay more attention to what he had to say in the couples’ circles at those diners.

“Would you just _shut up?”_

Saying that Jordan was taken aback was an understatement.

“I can’t deal with this anymore, if you want to yell, then go to the park and yell at yourself. I’ve got a massive headache, I have no patience to deal with your whining right now. Go grab yourself a scotch or something, maybe vodka, whatever it is that helps you with this ridiculous tantrum and go the fuck sleep, I’m going out.”

Jordan was so surprised and confused by Louis’ outburst that he took a few moments to register his words.

“Where the hell are you going?”

_“Out!”_

\---

_I should have gone to Dora, I should have gone to Dora I should-_

Harry opened his door, a puzzled look on his face, wet hair dripping water down his naked soaked chest. Tattoos – a butterfly. Louis really should have gone to Dora.

“Lou?”

“Harry! Hi- I –I-“ He sighed and looked down. “I have no idea what I’m doing here.”

“Something wrong? Where’s Lisa? Is she okay?” He sounded so freaked out that Louis couldn’t help but smile defeated, ivy green meeting a sea of blue.

“No, she is fine, still at Tanya’s, I’ll pick her up tomorrow I just-“ His shoulders rose and fell, the clock ticking, a ginger cat meowing, asking for attention from the couch before jumping down, inspecting Louis and deciding after a while he was a friend, head bumping his legs, tail held up high.

“I just needed a break, I couldn’t take the fighting anymore.”

Harry’s jaw tightened, eyes urgently searching all over Louis’ available skin. “Did he do anything?”

“No! No, he is an imbecile but not that stupid, he knows I wouldn't think twice before calling the cops on him if he ever touched me or Lisa, god I would kill him myself if he touched her, I just… I needed a break, found myself downstairs, the bakery was closed, zombie walked my way here, a nice girl told me you lived at 3C and now…” He shrugged.

“Okay…” Harry thought for a while, looking down to Madame Abby. “Come on in!”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Well, you’re already here though, it’s half past midnight, why don’t go wild with me?”

Louis’ brow raised. Harry grinned. “I have half eaten pumpkin ice cream pie and I was about to kick Netflix’s ass!”

\---

So it began. Every weekend after that, Louis would drop Lisa off at some friend’s house and go to Harry’s place. December rolled around; autumn air becoming chiller every passing day, walking on the streets was quiet at late hours in the night.

Harry’s home was always warm, his addiction to apple or cinnamon and pumpkin spiced scented candles was growing on Louis. Effectively.

They would spend nights talking or eating, sometimes Harry would cook for them, even teach him how to make his special Vegan Chocolate and Peanut Butter Fudge that Lisa loved so much or his Raw Vegan Pizza with Red Pepper Flax Crust (Louis’ favorite so far).

They would mess up Harry’s living room floor with blankets and pillows, his furry carpet making the best made up bed ever.

Netflix was their partner in crime. From comedy to horror to silly love movies.

Louis would spend his weeks craving for the weekends; Harry’s company was the best thing he could have found besides spending time with his daughter. Lisa’s adoration had only grown for the man at this point. One day after school Louis had taken her there since it was Harry’s day off and he wouldn’t be tutoring that afternoon. She had fallen in love with Madame Abby and fallen asleep on Harry’s bed while the adults made dinner, giggling their arses off in the kitchen.

The next time, it was only the two of them again.

“Come on H, please!” Louis knew he was whining but he didn’t care. “We’re always eating your shitty healthy food.”

“You love my shitty healthy food!” Harry argued, amusement playing on his lips. Louis pouted and without thinking it through, his arms went to each side of Harry’s hips, trapping him against the counter.

Louis batted his eyelashes up. “All I’m asking is just once, please let’s have a burger, a real burger, I know you have this delicious crunchy cookie brownie fruity ice creamy thing for dessert!”

Harry chuckled and shook his head, one of his hands placing itself on Louis’ waist. They were too close. No one pulled away. “Fruit & Coconut Ice Cream Cake with Brownie Crust.”

“Exactly what I said! Please?” He pouted again.

“I sometimes forget who is younger between you and your daughter.” He rolled his eyes, defeated, because really, he couldn’t deny Louis a thing.

The man smiled with mischief. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

“Yeah, fine whatever.”

“Yes! Ugh thank fuck!” He moved so quickly and instinctively that only when his lips pressed to Harry’s cheeks he realized it. “Uh.” He pulled his face back an inch or two, bodies still pressed close.

Both Harry’s hands were on him now. Harry’s eyes were closed, his breathing warm and heavy against Louis’ cheeks.

He bit his lip before tentatively pressing forward again. Just a peck to his cheek. Harry’s breath hitched. Green met blue. Warm and dry lips found Louis’ skin, arms wrapping around his waist, his own hands moving up Harry’s arms, flesh soft and firm under his fingertips, one hand at his shoulder, the other on the back of his neck, fingers tangling in his marvelous curls intentionally for the first time, tugging softly.

“Lou…” It was a plea, a whispered secret lost in the quiet air. A plea Louis couldn’t answer to, he wasn’t a cheater, he couldn’t do this to Harry or himself. So he simply pressed his lips to his cheek, then his temple, getting on his tiptoes to reach his forehead, coming back down on the other side, temples, cheek, jaw, cheek, corner of his lips-

“Louis.” Harry was looking at him now. He looked wild and a bit crazy, breathing out of control, hands gripping on the man’s biceps pulling him away just a breath or two.

Louis let his head fall to his shoulder, Harry’s arms wrapping around his back in a tight warm hug. He smelled so good, so fresh and warm and… Louis couldn’t dare think about it, but he knew, deep inside, Harry smelled like _home_.

“I’m sorry.”

Harry kissed his hair. “It’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

After a few ticks of the clock, Louis murmured; lower than a heart beating from the outside. “I want to.”

Harry heard it though, of course he did. And he wanted too, he wanted it so much, he wanted it all. Both men knew they were playing a dangerous game, that from day one the other’s eyes would linger too long for it to be friendly. Louis would still respect Jordan and so would Harry, but right there and then, alone in a dim lighted apartment, air warmed by a heater and those deliciously smelling candles, bodies pressed close and wrapped around each other, it was getting hard, figuratively and literally.

Louis pressed his hips forward, letting Harry know it was mutual, this was mutual, this desire, this hunger.

The taller man nuzzled into Louis’ hair, pressing a last kiss there and pulled away, moving out of his embrace. They stared at each other for a long time, chests heaving, mouths watering, begging, eyes glassy.

Harry’s voice was broken and went straight to Louis’ already more than interested crotch. “I’ll go ehm-“ He gestured to his own crotch.

“Wank?”

“No!”

They laughed at the same second at how ridiculous that was.

“I’ll just go cool off a bit on the bathroom, you can get the ingredients out - unless - unless you want me to go?” Louis knew he sounded lost and a bit scared. But well, he was both things.

“No, hey.” Harry didn’t think about it before reaching and pulling him to a hug. “We didn’t do anything, we’re friends, we’re clearly attracted to each other but we have limits, we know better, I don’t want it to ruin our friendship, you’re too important to me.” His words were rushed and whispered, as if they were a secret.

“Maybe try and tell me all of this again when our dicks aren’t pressed together?”

“ _Louis!”_ Harry groaned and shoved him away. “You’re the worst. Go cool off or whatever, I’ll get the stuff out.”

The other man was laughing all the way to the bathroom.

Harry waited  for a beat or two after  the door was closed to yell from the kitchen. “Please don’t come on my towel!”

A loud cackling noise came from the bathroom, Harry recognized the sound as his soap bottle being dropped and grinned wickedly.

_Two can plan this game after all._

\---

“Where are you off to every weekend?”

Louis looked up from his book, it was a late Wednesday, Lisa was coloring on the carpet by her father.

“To a friend’s.” He locked his jaw, eyes cold, begging Jordan to keep his shit together and not make a scene in front of her.

The bastard ignored his silent pleas. “Which friend though? I know for a fact that it’s not Dora.”

“Daddy?” Lisa looked up at him, not liking the tone the other man was using.

“Love, can you please take this to your room? I’ll be right there to call you to help me with dinner, okay?”

Lisa nodded, uncertain, but did as told. Louis sat up.

“How many times have I asked for you not to make a scene in front of her?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“Keep your voice down.”

“Why? Don’t want her to know her dad is a slut that has been sleeping around?”

Louis froze.

“I freaking saw you last night, Louis.”

Last night? What the hell was he on about? On the night before that Harry had texted him and- Oh…

Harry had texted him around 8 pm saying he was sorry to bother but his phone was about to die and his tire had blown by the park and it was deserted, so he couldn’t leave his car there. He asked Louis to call for help but obviously he asked Dora to watch Lisa and went to help Harry himself. They managed to change the tire, Harry endlessly teasing Louis about how he knew how to do such a thing and Louis shutting him up by tickling his ribs. Harry wrapped his arms around him, picking him up from the ground, which… ridiculous really, he was an adult - not that it stopped him from squealing like a banshee. After a while they just hugged each other, Louis’ forehead pressed to Harry’s chest, his hair being kissed by the other man.

“Was it that stupid carrot man? How long have you been fu-“

“Are you kidding me? Are you actually accusing me of cheating on you? Are _you_ accusing _me_ of cheating on you after only god knows how long you’ve been doing it _yourself_?”

Jordan fish mouthed. Louis laughed humorlessly.

“You won’t even deny it, will you? Of course not…” He shook his head. He was not expecting this confrontation anytime soon.

“You-you know?”

“Of course I know! I might not know how long or with who but I’m not a total idiot.”

Jordan was quiet for a while. He should have stayed that way. “You could have fooled me.”

“Did you just call me an idiot?”

“Well you totally are if you think that guy is gonna give you all I do!”

“Excuse me? All you- You are delusional, if you think  you give me anything besides money, you’re nothing but a cheater and a money machine, you haven’t been a father in so long, much less a _husband_ , I’ve gone as cold as a fucking fish because you won’t even touch me. Are you even gay still? You’re just - you’re not the guy I fell in love with.”

“Good, great, fucking awesome, you’re finally pulling off your mask. Is he good? Is he better than me? Do you enjoy being his fuck buddy?”

A few seconds passed. Louis’ pulse was crazy, anger clouding his judgement.

“You know, not that it changes anything for you - for us, but I’ve never touched Harry, or any other person, there wasn’t even a kiss. And believe me, Jordan, if I weren’t so keen on being faithful to a pile of shit like you, he would fuck me until I couldn’t walk, he would fuck me so good I would forget those five minutes fucks you’ve offered me most of the times. He would remind me of what it meant to be a man, to be wanted. I can tell it all just by how he _looks_ at me.” Louis voice was low and sharp and he could see they were somehow affecting Jordan.

“Then why don’t you go to him?”

Louis smiled, maniac almost. “Fine.” He walked away, surprising himself and Jordan, walking to Lisa’s room, telling her they would go to Harry’s for the night. He grabbed her clothes and school bag for the following day. She moved quickly, not questioning and clearly happy about going to Harry’s.

Jordan was at the same spot in the living room.

“This is not over, I am not a quitter, you man up and we will talk, I’ll listen when you’re brave enough to face me, if you want and I think we should, we can try and fix this but not before you prove to me you’re in this for me, in this for us.”

\---

“Lou?” A worried frown took the smile’s place when Harry opened his door to find Louis’ arms full of his daughter. She was clearly too big to be carried, but they always made an exception when she was sad. And by they, it means Louis and Harry, yes.

“Could you just hold us for a moment?” Louis’ voice broke before he could finish. He had promised himself he would never cry for Jordan, and he wasn’t, he was crying for himself.

\---

Harry’s arms were wrapped around Louis. He didn’t know how long they had been there. The older man in his lap, his daughter crushed softly between them. His shoulder was wet with tears but he didn’t really care. He just held those two human beings tight that in less than two months had made their way into his heart, locked its door and thrown away the key.

\---

Later that night, after making a simple sandwich for each of them, Lisa was sleeping on Harry’s bed, both men more than used to sharing the living room carpet where they found themselves by then, a glass of wine calming Louis down, body pressed into Harry’s chest, quietly telling him about his relationship with Jordan, all of it, from the first day to all those ten years later. Something that he never wanted to do with Harry, but the man deserved some explanations, so Louis decided to give him all of it.

He told Harry how they met in high school, then dated and broke up and moved in together and got back again before breaking up and going back to each other and breaking up and getting married. It had always been a roller-coaster between them, but all those years back it was mostly about two people that loved each other but didn’t know how to fit properly. That love was long gone, at some point after Lisa was born, their love just took a one way trip to Neverland and never came back.

Harry held him through it all, patiently listening and squeezing him a bit closer whenever his voice cracked with emotion. Louis told him why he still endured it, and it was because it was simple to just pretend everything was fine, they both still cared, just didn’t love each other anymore and that was clear. But it was easier, Louis didn’t want to take his daughter and make her go through difficulties because he couldn’t have a perfect marriage, it was about her, being well and happy, not about him. His mother had made numerous sacrifices for him and his sisters, he was more than willing to make all of them for his daughter as well.

Harry kissed him and he let it happen. It was soft, filled with emotion and pain but with so much care and trust and _love_ Louis even dared to think, that when Harry pulled away Louis kissed him again, not finding it in himself to care about fidelity now that his husband had been exposed and clearly didn't care.

Louis straddled him, Harry’s head tilting up to meet his lips. Harry kissed like he cooked, passionately, skillfully, soft and hard, warm and burning, hands moving up and down Louis’ body. Hearts beating in frenetic synchrony, mouths wanting, hands searching, chests heaving and throats releasing soft low sounds full of desire. It was the best feeling in the world. It wasn’t enough.

“Harry… Harry please.” His voice was so whimpered and soft.

Pressing his forehead to Louis chest, Harry allowed himself a few seconds to breathe and think this through. He looked up to find blue.

“Am I your rebound guy?”

“What? No!” Louis shook his head as firmly as possible.

“If this was different, if you were single or had divorced already, would you be here, Louis? Would you be right here begging me - asking me to - _Christ_.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Louis kissed his lips twice to make him look at him again, hoping his voice could echo as much honesty as he felt in his chest. “If this had been different, I would’ve been yours for a least a few weeks, Harry, I would be yours because I want you, all of you, all _with_ you, it’s not about being married, it’s about being unhappy. I’ve accepted for so long that as long as Lisa is happy, I don’t care about me and then you come in and turn my world upside down. I- I fell for you weeks ago, I fell for you when you made me eat that goddamn Raw Moroccan Vegetable shit that you know I loved, I fell for you when I saw you in that stupid carrot paint, I fall for you every time I see you and when I’m hurting, you’re all I want, all I need to be okay.” He took a deep breath.

“I know this is not ideal, I know it’s not right and you deserve much better, I know I can’t ask you to simply accept me, it’s too much, I have a daughter, it’s way too much baggage - I’m still married, for god’s sake, I can’t ask anything from you, I know I can’t, but I’m going to anyways. Can you wait? For a while, just a little time for me to fix things up?”

Harry’s eyes were filling up with tears. He closed them and leaned up for a last kiss.

“I received a scholarship to take my last semester in Singapore.”

Louis’ heart broke for the thousandth times that night. He moved out of Harry’s lap. His lips trembling without his blessing.

“I said yes, I’m leaving in January. But-“ He took a deep breath and faced Louis, grabbing his hands. “I will wait for you, if you wait me, I want it all with you, I lo- fuck Lou I adore you _and_ Lisa, I want nothing more than spend my days teaching the both of you how to make crazy vegan dishes, I want to wake up next to you and drive her to school, I want to listen to you talking about your day at work and Lisa’s day at school, I want to go to sleep with you and make love to you, I want it all.”

The clock above the early set up Christmas tree - that Lisa and Louis has helped him set up, creating the biggest giggly and most domestic scene ever - was ticking quietly as they stared at the other.

Louis voice, tired and broken rolled in the air. “I’ll take Lisa to school tomorrow, I’ll go home and talk to him. I’m done, it’s done, I was okay with lying to myself before but now - now my heart belongs to someone else… You go, when you come back I’d like to take you out on a proper date, if we still want this, we can give it a try but don’t you dare hold back because of me, you go, you learn, you live, I’ll do the same from here, we can text a few times, whatever you want, and when you come back, we’ll see.”

Harry pressed their foreheads together and nodded.

“May I kiss you now? Just for a while? Just for tonight?”

Louis smiled, a sad tingle in his stomach. “You better make it count.”

\---

Louis' birthday passed in a blur, his Christmas was celebrated with his family, it was a sad but happy holiday.

New Year’s rolled around.

The divorce was signed on January third, two days before Harry's flight.

They had texted and called each other during holidays, it was hard to meet with each of them being with their families, but they managed to talk. It was also friendlier than anything. Their calls always ended with Lisa quietly crying about how she missed Harry, her forever Carrot Prince.

Louis had moved out to a one bedroom flat with his daughter, his mom had helped a lot, honestly relieved and happy that her son had made a decision that was better for him and Lisa.

\---

January fourth came and Louis couldn’t be another 6 minutes away from Harry when the last time he had gotten to see and hug him was mid-December by the bakery door.

They wordlessly made out on Harry's bed, hips moving frantically, hands exploring naked chests, lips releasing moans and whimpers. As they moved faster and closer to their orgasms, soft pleas and promises were whispered against hot skin.

They cuddled and kissed for hours after that.

A shared shower was the first time they saw the other fully naked. They took their time washing each other's bodies, curious fingertips pulling silly giggles out of their lips.

Louis washed Harry's hair, lovingly and carefully.

Harry thanked him by dropping to his knees and pushing Louis softly, turning him around to face the tiled wall.

The man gasped and looked down over his shoulder. Harry was a vision, a sinful one.

"What are you doing?"

Harry groaned and pressed three kisses to the back of his left thigh, Louis panted.

"I've wanted to eat you out since I first saw you walking to the register on the day we met."

"Fuck- I- I’ve never."

"You've never been eaten out?"

Louis shook his head, cheeks flushed.

Groaning, Harry begged. "Please let me, please love, I promise I’ll pull back if you don’t like it."

Louis gulped. The idea was scary but extremely arousing, his hard cock up and pressing against the wall. He nodded.

"Thank you." Polite as always, Harry made Louis smile before making him squeal at being suddenly spread open and exposed.

"Give a guy some warning will you?" Louis snapped, cheeks burning. Facial cheeks. Oh well.

Harry chuckled, pressing open mouthed kisses to his left cheek. “Sorry… Lou, I’m about to eat you now, okay? Brace yourself.”

The smirk Louis hated so much was evident to his voice and he was about to tell him off for it but his plans were rudely interrupted by a warm tongue licking a flat stripe over his entrance causing him to gasp and thrust his hips back. The smirk grew wider. Harry started giving him teasing kitten licks with the tip of his tongue. If Louis was mewling, well, to hell with that. Then Harry flattened his tongue dragging it from his balls to the dimples on his back at the bottom of his spine and Louis freaking wailed at the feeling.

The slurping sound of wet sucking made it so dirty and pornographic and absolutely maddening, causing him to writhe and moan brokenly, so sweet and high pitched. 

He went back to kissing his opening, his lips so hungry, so desperate, Louis could feel his chin and nose bumping against him when Harry moved too eagerly, it was getting hard to control himself and not let go and dive into the feeling.

Louis was close already, to his defense: ten months without proper sex. And Harry, fuck, Harry was perfect, Harry was not all he wanted but also all he needed, all he craved, the one - the one he _loved_.

“Fuck fuck fuck, Haz, Harry I-”

Harry pulled back to pool saliva on the tip of his tongue before moving in again, tongue hard and dripping softly, pressing into him moving up and down.

 _Ah fuck._ Louis was gone before he could warn him, shooting hard and untouched against the wall.

He took a few seconds to recover, one of Harry’s hands around his hip, lips softly kissing goosebumps onto his flesh and his other hand moving furiously on his own leaking cock.

Louis didn’t think twice before pushing him on his arse and crawling on fours over his legs, his mouth anything but teasing, swallowing as much as he could of Harry’s cock, nearly reaching to deep throating him. Impressed was an understatement, it didn’t take long before Harry was being milked to a mind blowing orgasm, Louis’ mouth being the best thing he had ever felt and fuck, if that wasn’t love.

They giggled into each other’s mouths.

The night was spent cuddling and kissing some more, it was a silent agreement not to take things further that night. On the next day, Louis drove Harry to the airport after driving home where Lisa was sleeping in her bed and her part time babysitter Niall on the couch so Harry could say goodbye to them.

They kissed when Harry’s flight was called on the intercom.

It was sad to watch him go.

But now Louis had the silver cross Harry wore on his neck for the past twelve years according to him. He smiled, fingers warming the cold metal as he watched the plane take off.

It felt like a _promise_.

  
\---


	2. When it's meant to be... we go kinda crazy

Louis realized after the third week of waking up to his daughter poking his cheek with a sweet smile on her face, that being a single parent turned out not to be much of a difficulty. And after having his back killing him for sleeping on the couch but smiling anyway every time he looked at his daughter, he also realized that he had been raising her by himself for a long time.

Jordan never cared much about educating her, teaching good manners or reading her a bed time story. He was nice to her, of course, but he had acted in no way like a parent should have, he was more like a careless uncle. He was the exact opposite of Harry.

And Louis knew he couldn’t compare, okay he could, but he shouldn't. He just wasn't able to help himself. Harry was caring, naturally, yes, but with Lisa... He had this whole aura around her, soft smiles and silly tickle attacks, he helped her with homework more times than not, he pushed her on the swing and walked hand in hand with her. He even read her a bedtime story once not caring about the fact that it was only an afternoon nap.

\---

Harry wasn't aware that the Louis knew about it, but there was this one time the three of them went to buy some ingredients, and an elder lady accidentally knocked a few cans when bypassing Harry and Lisa. The little girl ran to help before Harry could even turn around to see what had happened. Louis was elsewhere finding mushrooms and he rounded the aisle just in time to see his daughter arms full of cans, dropping them in an old lady basket. No one noticed him approaching, which he will always be thankful for because the smile Harry offered the lady when she patted his cheek and told him "you have a very polite daughter, congratulations darling" was able to light up the entire shop.

\---

  
The first text came about two weeks after Harry left. Louis was going to work after walking Lisa to school when he felt his phone buzzing. A simple picture attached to the text.

**Settled in.**

  


He had to laugh, his insides suddenly wide awake, bubbling with emotions.

 ** _Unless you created vegan pepperoni, I’m really disappointed in you._**   He answered

A string of laughing emojis is what he got back.

After that, texting became regular. It was comforting, he missed Harry.

\---

  
Louis was happy; there was no doubt in that. Even needing to work harder and sometimes begging Niall to babysit - not that the blond lad would ever deny or mind - and going crazy with finances, Louis was happy, and also Lisa was clearly happier even though she missed Harry and Jordan.

The latter called twice a week to check in on her, every once in a while he would ask Louis to bring her over so he could see her. And if it looked like he did it out of guilt, the little girl thankfully didn’t notice.

It wasn’t a surprise when Jordan showed up at Louis’ new workplace - a very small but promising publicity agency - telling him he had become official with his secretary. It wasn’t a surprise when he told Louis they had been together for two years, it was a slight surprise though that she was pregnant, but what Louis wouldn’t have expected - not in a million years -was Jordan begging him to take the apartment they had lived in because it wasn’t really fair for Louis to move out. Jordan was also moving to a bigger place with Stella.

So he moved back in, slightly mad for having to go through the moving process twice in only a couple of months.

Dora was delighted to have them back, Louis didn’t know if he liked being around her or more having a proper bed again.

A big empty bed.

And so yeah... He was lonely, he had grown used to being lonely in the last year of his relationship with Jordan, but Harry had turned his world upside down and now he didn’t have either of them around.

They texted quite a lot, usually simple texts or pictures, sometimes they skyped - a few wanking sessions in front of the camera might have happened once or twelve times.

They were still mainly friends. It was possible to see in the other’s eyes even through their computer screen how much their feelings hadn’t gone away. And Louis was relieved at that.

The first time Harry suggested Louis went out to meet someone to shag, the man had laughed.

When it was about the fifth time, Louis agreed, he was human after all. Harry didn’t seem bothered, he maybe acted a bit possessive on their skype sessions after Louis came back from a bar or a club slightly tipsy and giggly, calling Harry and begging him to get him off because one of his dates had been lame.

It’s not like he went out a lot, twice a month tops, he did have a now seven-year-old after all. He kept it all casual, sometimes went back to the guy's place to fool around a bit, never going further than quick touches over jeans, he didn’t really care, he just wanted to get some relief after a hell week at work.

Harry went on a few dates as well, they openly shared with each other, and it was easy, funny, teasing.

They never saw the same guy twice, they never had sex, and it was simple: dance, drink, snog, and goodbye.

It was mid-May when Niall introduced Zayn to Louis. They clicked instantly. And if Harry was actually jealous when they were skyping and he saw a guy on the couch with Lisa in the background, Louis just laughed at his face. Zayn was great and a lovely guy but totally not enough to get Louis into him. After a while, Harry was just happy he had found a new friend and Louis couldn’t be more thankful because he loved having Zayn around.

Lisa also loved Zayn, she loved his tattoos, he made her get into the Marvel Universe and Louis knew it was a lost cause.

That’s the reason to when October rolled in, that crispy air waking Louis up every morning, the faint smell of burned candles still lingering in the room, Louis wasn’t surprised when his daughter begged him to get a Spiderman costume making him laugh and Zayn smirk smugly.

She looked adorable in the costume, Zayn made a mask that only wrapped around her eyes to make it more comfortable for her to run and play.

On her seventh birthday in mid-July she skyped with Harry, her birthday gift was him teaching her a new vegan dish he had created called _“Lisa_ ”, simple but effective and Louis fell in love all over again when he saw how happy his daughter was while mixing her favorite ingredients for that special dish. Niall was there to help her and Zayn was there to eat. She said after coming back from a laser tag battle with her friends from school that it had been the best birthday ever, the only person missing was Harry.

She had told Harry she loved him when they finished eating, computer placed where he would have sat if he could be there. Louis froze in place, the other two adults matching his expression but Harry just grinned, eyes full of emotion and he told her that he loved her back in a heartbeat.

And Louis had to bite his tongue to not say how much he loved Harry as well, because he did, he truly did.

\---

  
Halloween Party Day was there again and Lisa had never been so excited about it, even though there was a drop of disappointment in her smile.

Harry had been supposed to be back about a month before that but because of life and opportunities he hadn’t come home yet and to top that, he hadn’t answered Louis' calls or texts in at least three days. And... Okay, whatever, he wasn’t that clingy, just frustrated.

\---

Breakfast was hosted at Dora's place, for some reason Zayn was there, sharing these sneaky glances with Lisa, not that her father noticed, too busy munching on a toast to see his friend glancing at the clock and winking at the kid.

Lisa winked back cutely, using both eyes and nodded.

"Dad?" Louis looked at her, smiling. "I forgot my mask!"

“Oh, you said you had it!"

"Yes but I forgot, daddy... I can’t be Spiderman without a mask." She pouted.

Louis looked a bit suspiciously at her but let it go quickly. "Where did you leave it?"

Zayn spoke up. "I think I saw it on the table."

"Yes! Yes daddy, on the table, can you go get it? Pretty _please_?" She put her hands together and pushed her pout out further, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Of course, love. Gimme two seconds."

\---

_On the table. On the table. On the-_

"What the... " there wasn’t a mask on the table, there was anything but a mask on the table.

In fact, there were cupcakes. Cupcakes decorated for Halloween displayed in a heart shape.

Speaking of hearts, Louis' was pounding for no reason.

Walking closer to the table he noticed a folded piece of paper placed in the center of the heart. He picked it up carefully, pumpkin and vanilla scents invading his nostrils.

A frown followed by a smile formed on his face when he opened the note, a single neatly printed word on it.

**_Boo!_ **

Louis was so focused on the pretty decorations on the goodies that he didn’t noticed the movement behind him. Silent quick footsteps approached and when he finally felt a presence, way too close for comfort, a voice whispered in his ear before he could turn around.

"Boo!"

Louis shrieked loudly, abruptly turning around and slapping whoever the hell was behind him. Quick swats of his hand hitting the firm arm. He didn’t even realize he had his eyes closed until Harry's loud cackles brought him back to it.

Harry. Those were Harry's laughs.

"You son of a-"

"Hello to you too!" He couldn’t stop laughing. Louis slapped his arms five more times.

“Where. Where. You? I hate. Being scared!" Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him closer, pressed against his chest. Louis kept trying to pull away, torn between laughing and shouting at him, only stopping when his lips were silenced by a kiss.

Harry pulled back an inch or two, smiling. "Is this okay?"

Louis smiled and fake gasped. "Of course not! I'm so mad at you!" Two seconds later they were kissing again, pulling away every few seconds, grins making it hard to snog properly.

"Where the hell were you?!"

"I was coming home."

Louis narrowed his eyes. "You could've told me! I was crazy worried about you."

"And ruin the surprise?!" He was laughing again; Louis slapped him once more just to have his hand stopped and another kiss stolen.

"I missed you." His whisper was so sincere and sweet that Harry hugged him to his chest, tight and protecting.

They just held each other for a while, enjoying the body warmth and the other's smell.

"Why three days though?"

"I had to prep the food for the party." Harry smiled apologetically.

"You're providing the food again?"

"What can I say? They loved me."

Louis just had to roll his eyes. “Hold on - did you - Did you drag my daughter into this?”

Instead of answering, the other man wrapped his arms around Louis, bringing him as close as possible to whisper against the corner of his lips. “You look so adorable when you get all squinty eyes.”

He got a slap out of it, soft, barely touching his skin, but it was there.

The sound of a door opening broke them apart from a soft kiss that they hadn’t even realized had started.

“ _Did it work_?” Lisa’s whisper came from behind the door and they looked up in time to see Niall pulling his head back from the door, attempting to sneakily close it.

“Abort Mission, Abort Mission, they saw me!” Loud giggles and hurried footsteps could be heard altogether with a shout of “It worked though!”

The couple laughed before Harry stole another kiss.

“I didn’t even know Niall was here, did you use his key?”

Harry nodded. “I’m sorry to go all sneaky and vanishing. I wanted to surprise you.”

He couldn’t be upset, not even if he tried. He smiled fondly instead. “You’re forgiven. Now kiss me some more, we’ve got a party to attend in a few.” After a peck he pulled back quickly. “Please tell me you’re not a carrot again.”

Harry’s laugh was lost in another kiss, a longer one this time, the smirk back full-force when he replied. “Not exactly.”

\---

“I can’t believe you’re a _pineapple_!” The extra fond Louis’ smile carried as he shook his head was enough to make the tall yellow painted lad grin.

“Well you know what they say about pineapples… And how they… accentuate _flavors_.” The wink was what made Louis walk away.

“You are impossible!”

Harry’s loud cackles could be heard all the way from the sweets table.

\---

 “This is not a date.” Louis deadpanned.

“Of course it is!” unpacking the rest of the grocery bags, Harry didn’t even turn to look at him.

“It’s you cooking! We’ve done it plenty of times - not that I don’t love your food but when you said we’d be having a date tonight I thought it meant going out!”

“I went out.” He knew Harry was just riling him up. So he just narrowed his eyes at the back of Harry’s head.

“You went to the grocery shop and then to my house.”

Harry finally turned around. “It’s gonna be special.”

Louis sighed and crossed his arms. “Again… love your food, but I’ve had it too many times.”

The smirk was back, it always was. “That’s why you’re the one cooking tonight.”

He had to laugh. “So basically I’ll do all the hard work, this is your idea of a proper first date?”

Walking closer and gripping his hips, Harry pressed their foreheads together. “I wanted it to be just us, having fun, safe and sound at your place. If you’d rather, we can go out. I was planning on taking you out for a fancy breakfast tomorrow though.”

At some point, Louis’ heart started beating faster. Yeah… Harry was a master in doing that. “So you’re spending the night?”

Biting his lip, he nodded slowly. “Unless you don’t want me to stay?”

Louis had to snort, it wasn’t pretty. “You were away for over eight months, you’d already moved in if it depended on Lisa and me.” He froze as soon as the words left his mouth.

But Harry just grinned with his eyes closed as he started to sway them slowly, side to side. “Maybe someday, soon, you’ll say that again.”

 _Inhale, exhale, don’t forget how to breathe, Louis._ “Yeah? You’d want that?”

Harry’s nod was firm and honest, his eyes bringing up that effect. “Remember what you told me that night?”

Louis did remember, he knew which night the other man was talking about. He nodded.

“I want you, all of you, all _with_ you.” Harry quoted and Louis was sure his brain had shut down. “I mean it, do you? Still want it with me?”

Instead of answering, Louis grabbed him by the back of the neck and locked their lips in a kiss, a frantic and desperate one, both men incapable of using words to describe their feelings anymore.

\---

The room was hot, making it hard to breathe. The only sounds filling the air were their uneven breaths and if he listened very carefully, Harry swore he could count Louis' heartbeats while their bodies moved slow, skin hot and shining with sweat. 

Harry's mouth tasted of Louis. Everything screamed Louis, his moans, his heat, his smell, his lips and his eyes, especially his eyes. Harry had never noticed how deep they were, how... beautiful, everything about Louis was beautiful. 

The slow thrusts of Louis's hips and the breathy moans he panted into Harry's ear, driving him crazier and crazier, making him crave more, more of something, more of anything, more-

“ _Louis.”_ Harry was in pure ecstasy having the other man on top of him, his nails biting marks on Harry’s chest as he rolled his hips back and forth, riding him in a slow rhythm, firm and strong movements.

Harry felt so good, so deep, Louis could hardly breathe and he didn’t want to, Harry felt better than air, stretching him open, gripping tightly on his hips, dragging his body, moving inside but never pulling away.

His moans were so broken, so beautiful. It all felt too good, too intense, nothing that either man had ever felt before. They had given up kissing long ago, feeling way too much to focus on kissing properly. This wasn’t fucking, it was the mushiest making-love-session they’ve ever had and they were both okay with it, they knew they would have a lot of time for dirty later, for now they were fine with not breathing, not thinking, just… _loving._

“More…” Louis begged in a whisper and Harry pushed their lips together. Once. Twice. Three times and nodded.

“May I move you?” He whispered back.

“Whatever you want-“ Louis hips never stopped moving. “God, this is so much better than dinner.”

Harry chuckled into his collarbone. “And you wanted to go out for a date.”

Louis swayed his hips a bit faster, causing Harry to gasp. “If I knew- fuck- if I knew you’d lure me into sex…”

“Excuse me, lure you?”

“Yeah… you totally seduced me.” The smirk on his voice is what did it for Harry. He pulled the other man up and away from his cock making him whine displeased, chuckling darkly as he positioned Louis the way he wanted.

“I love looking into your eyes but you look too good not to have you like this.”

Louis gasped when his cock brushed the bed, face mushed into the pillow, arse up, Harry’s body blanketing his as the other man whispered dirty things in his ear.

He then kissed up and down Louis’ heated back, mouth desperate and hungry, the taste of him intoxicating and addicting.

“Comfortable?” He asked softly, hands kneading his cheeks, holding him open enough to fit his cock there and drag it up and down. Louis whined again, pushing back.

“Yes, yes, fuck, get back to it, I miss you already.”

Harry cackled and kissed his lips from that awkward angle, wet and quick.

“Can you open your legs a bit?” Harry asked.

Louis could only nod, not able to form a proper word because Harry was pressing into him again, jolts of electricity caused by each thrust. He moved a bit, opening his legs, groaning when the head of his cock touched the sheets with more pressure. Harry’s hand held him exactly how he wanted him to and then he thrust in, long and hard. And Louis screamed this time, pushing his head deeper into the pillow.

Suddenly Harry’s arms were around his waist and he was being pulled back against Harry’s chest. Both kneeling high on the bed, his lips assaulting Louis’ shoulder. The grip on his hips was so tight he knew he would have bruises and if the man kept this up, he would have hickeys too, but oh he didn’t care, he would wear them proudly.

Five seconds ago they were making sweet love, now it was still love just more… intense. All that mattered was the heat pooling on his low stomach and Harry’s teeth on his flesh and before he knew it, he was coming, moaning brokenly and whimpering as the air stopped filling his lungs. Coming that hard made him squeeze around Harry, bringing the man to the edge with him.

Harry’s cries were muffled in Louis’ neck. His hips kept moving, slowing down until it was too much for both of them, so he pulled out of Louis, the man hissing out of being sensitive, and let himself fall on the mattress, pulling Louis with him, turning and rolling into their favorite position.

A few minutes passed and both men were still trying to catch their breath, Louis’ chest glued to Harry’s back, his arm around his waist, his lips pressing to his neck, not kissing or sucking or biting, just touching - loving.

A silly smiled appeared on Louis’s face. “Now, this is gross.”

Harry laughed a bit. “Agreed.”

“We are drenched in sweat and lying on my come. Gross.”

“Agreed.”

“I’m not moving though...”

“Agreed.”

“Harry, you’re a dork.”

“…Agreed.”

 ---

“Why did we think it would be a good idea for me to move in today?”

Things were frenetic at the Tomlinson household. Harry was carrying an extra-heavy box through the door when he heard his boyfriend chuckling at him. He only had time to put the box down in the middle of the room before Louis’ arms were around his stomach, chin resting on Harry’s shoulder, the older man cutely on his tiptoes to manage to do so.

“Well, you’re the one that kept going on about how Halloween is important to us.”

Harry groaned. “I know… but moving in? What was I thinking?”

Louis raised a brow and turned him around. “Having second thoughts?”

It was Harry’s time to chuckle. “Don’t be silly, I’ve wanted to move in for nearly a year now, you’re the one who wouldn’t invite me.”

“And he _didn’t_.” Lisa’s voice came from the door, she was already dressed as Khaleesi, the lady dragon - even though Louis didn’t allow his eight-year-old daughter to watch Game of Thrones for obvious reasons, Zayn had drawn her and her dragons enough times to make Lisa fall in love with her.

“ _I_ had to invite you!” She rolled her eyes as she put down a small and light-weighted box.

The couple chuckled at her attitude. And she was right, after ten months of dating, Harry spent more time at their house than his own, so Lisa just bluntly asked one night after dinner when Harry had to decline watching Frozen with her because he needed to drive home. She simply said “Why don’t you move in already?” The couple had stared at each other with wide eyes, mouth-fishing until Louis shook his head, not believing his daughter had come up with it before him.

So there they were, Halloween Party Day, moving Harry’s boxes to Louis’ flat.

Madame Abby was scanning the place, already showing a preference for Lisa’s bed. Niall and Zayn were helping with the furniture and Dora was helping Lisa find and carry the smaller boxes.

“I haven’t seen a one-color-outfit.” Louis said while typing a text to his mom as Harry drove them to Lisa’s school.

Harry’s team had already taken care of the food and setting things up a few hours later.

Six months before that, he had graduated from UNI and not surprisingly had been hired as Assistant Chef at the fine restaurant where he used to make the food for parties just like on the past two years. Seeing the place took orders for bigger events, Harry had his own team to help him. He had even managed to drag Niall into it.

Harry smiled over at his boyfriend. “No full costume today.” He lowered his voice making sure Lisa didn’t hear it over the movie she was watching on the car’s small TV screen. “Not for the party anyways.”

Louis raised his brow and the other man just laughed at him.

\---

The handcuffs biting into his wrists didn’t hurt, in fact they made him whimper and a little bit insane as Harry pushed him down on the table and fucked into him later that night. Louis’ arms were behind his back, hands cuffed together; legs spread wide as his boyfriend stood in between them, thrusting hard and quick. One hand pulling on the cuffs and the other tugging on Louis’ hair, just the way he liked it.

After a few mind blowing orgasms, they bathed each other, the older man washed his boyfriend’s long hair and they had just started relaxing in the tub when Louis spoke, causing the other man to grin and smirk.

“Do I even want to know where you got that Policeman costume?”

Harry just laughed, turning around and straddling his boyfriend in the water, cupping his face for a kiss as Louis’ hands roamed all over his body.

\---

“I can’t believe she is ten!” Anne half-squealed, looking at Lisa dancing with her friends at her birthday party.

“I can’t believe you asked her to call you grandma.” Gemma shook her head at her mom. “I love her but I can’t get over being called aunt Gemma yet, I feel old.”

Harry laughed at his sister. Deep down, he and Louis knew that his family loved Lisa just as much as they did. His parents and sister had accepted Louis and his daughter with arms wide open. Louis’ sisters and brother just like his mom had fallen for Harry just as quickly as he had, not being able to resist his cooking skills.

They were now a pretty big family. Well not yet… But that only made Louis grin like an idiot every time he looked at his engagement ring. He could not believe he had agreed to get married on Halloween, on freaking Halloween! He had clearly been under orgasm effect when Harry threw the idea at him.

\---

The fourth Halloween they spent together was when they got married. All the guests had to put on costumes, it was the only rule.

Harry looked ridiculously pretty in his Nightmare Before Christmas suit and Louis looked just as pretty on his Corpse Bride one. After the ceremony they changed into better costumes. Louis looked like a maniac in that Joker costume, while his husband looked so damn fuckable in the Harley Quinn one.

Needless to say, their honeymoon was spent in a hotel room 24/7, only going out to meet Barcelona properly two days before going home. They didn’t regret it for a single second.

\---

"Pssst. _Psssst_. Daddy, you awake?"

That whisper-shout coming from his bedside early in the mornings was something that Harry had grown used to since Lucy had found out what ‘you’ and ‘awake’ put in that particular order meant.

He opened his eyes with a huge grin on his face as he faced his daughter, the wild mess of curls causing laughter bubbles to emerge in his inside.

"I am now." His voice rough with sleep filling the air as he reached for her chocolate curls, attempting to soothe her bed hair down.

Her loud squeal of " _Morning Daddy_!" that followed was also something he knew to expect.

"Morning, love." She never failed to bring a smile to his lips.

He didn't need to check behind him to know he wasn’t alone in bed; the warm pressure was enough to let him know that even if the arm thrown over his waist hadn’t been there. He felt Louis moving lazily behind him before pressing a kiss in-between his shoulder blades, lifting his head then, looking over his husband to his four-year old-daughter and wishing her a good morning. More squeals were the answer before she ran out of the room.

Both men sighed fondly as Harry rolled over to face Louis.

“Morning, beautiful.”

“Morning, love.” Louis grinned sleepily and pressed a soft peck to Harry’s lips. “Ready for Lucy’s first Halloween party?”

Harry’s eyes sparkled so much that his husband had to chuckle and kiss him again.

“Technically it’s her fourth Halloween party, we always take her to Lisa’s.”

Louis chuckled. “Lisa running away from us is the best thing about these parties, innit?”

Harry wrapped him into a full-body hug. “Well, in her defense, I wouldn’t have wanted my parents in my high school parties either.”

“Guess providing the food for her school was a great idea though, we keep an eye on her.”

He had to laugh. “As if she needed it, she is the most responsible 16-year-old I know.” He paused for a while, smiling at the memory of the first time he saw Lisa, dressed as a mummy princess all those 10 years ago. “Though I have to admit her coming out was a huge relief, I’m not ready for my baby having boyfriends.”

Louis chuckled into his collarbones. “Tell me about it.”

“Can you imagine if Charlie came out to us though? I won’t be able to sleep with all these men in the world, he is gonna be too pretty for them, I can just tell.”

Louis laughed and rolled his eyes. “Love, he is eight months old, a little bit too soon to think about his love life, isn’t it?”

His husband sighed. “I know… he is gonna be gorgeous though, just saying.”

“Oh, maybe we can set him up with one of the twins!”

Harry laughed. It wasn’t the first time they joked about setting Charlie up with Kira or Rafi, Zayn’s ten-months-old twins.

As if knowing they were talking about him, Charlie’s bubbly giggles came from the baby monitor on the bedside table. Harry disentangled himself, pressing a kiss to Louis’ head. “I’ll take this one, go get ready, I’ll start breakfast.”

A few minutes later Louis walked into his son’s nursery as his husband was finishing changing his diapers.

“Haz? Care to tell me why there’s an orange suit on _my_ side of the closet?”

The man laughed. “You’re the carrot to my bunny!” He tickled Charlie who kicked his legs, giggling.

“I’m your _what_ now?” Louis raised his brow.

“Come on! I’ll be a bunny, nothing better than you being the carrot!”

“I’m not going as a carrot.”

“ _Lou_!” He whined and pouted, looking younger than their child. “I’ll be the bunny! Be my carrot!”

“I’m divorcing you.” He glared and Harry knew it was a win; Louis would put on the stupid orange outfit.

“Or maybe you could be the Bum to my Bun! Would fit _much_ better, aye?”

Louis yelled from the hallway. “Calling the lawyer!”

Harry sort of giggled and picked up his son. “Your dad will make a precious carrot, wonder if I should tell him you have the same costume waiting for you, it would probably soothe him down.”

Charlie’s huge green eyes looked at his face in interest as if he could understand every word. His father let him grip his pinky as he walked them to the kitchen, bending down to kiss Lisa’s pixie short blond hair.

“Morning, darling.”

“Morning dad.” She smiled making grabby hands to her baby brother, who squealed and jumped to her arms.

Louis chose that moment to walk into the kitchen alongside to a babbling four-year-old.

A few minutes later the family was chatting about the most random things, even the youngest let out a few giggles and squeals to be part of the conversation. Louis caught his husband watching Lisa telling Lucy about the cool hair styles she could use with her lady bug costume, that she would help her make them. Their eyes sparkled so much, the two girls loved each other and the oldest one was perfect, no one expected her to be but she managed anyway. Lucy looked up to her, always saying how much she wanted to be just like Lisa when she grew up and date girls too because boys were _yuck_. Her parents and sister had laughed at that and the little girl was confused but pleased about making her family happy.

Both men looked at the other, blue and green mixing for the thousandth time in the past ten years, the sparkles and adoration were still there, just as strong, they would always be. Louis eyes screamed how much he loved Harry and Harry’s smile screamed back just as loudly.

It was their 10th Halloween together, both knew there would be many more to come, an infinite number of them, as many as life allows. They fell in love once, they fell in love twice, they keep falling in love, because that’s how it’s supposed to be when you find _the one_.

Even though they wear a carrot costume, even though they make the worst jokes ever, even though they yell at you for not letting them eat a burger or although you want to throw some tofu at their head, when you meet the one, that one person, nothing else really matters, when it’s just… _meant to be_.

**Author's Note:**

> If you got this far, thank you for reading and I really hope you enjoyed!
> 
> To the prompter, I’m really sorry for messing up the prompt a bit but I hope you liked how it turned out enough not to mind. Thank you for the prompt! Hope I did it justice anyways! Xx 
> 
> Find me on tumblr at getmesometacos :)


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